JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Gov. Jay Nixon announced Thursday that he would slash $60 million from the state budget after Wednesday’s veto session. That figure comes in addition to the $115 million Nixon withheld in July.
Nixon cited two vetoed bills, SB 641 and SB 1025, overridden by the legislature as the reason for further cuts. SB 1025, from Sen. Will Kraus, will eliminate the sales tax on instructional classes. The Office of Administration estimates that will cut a little under $8 million from the state budget. Sen. Dave Schatz SB 641 will create an income tax deduction for farmers and other agricultural producers who have suffered a loss due to a natural disaster.
The latter bill is estimated to cut over $50 million in state revenue.
Nixon laid the blame solely at the General Assembly’s feet.
“Make no mistake, these cuts are solely the responsibility of legislators who voted to enact the special interest tax breaks,” he said in a statement. “When they decide to spend money on tax breaks, that money has to come from other places.
“I’ve always been extremely clear to legislators that the tax breaks they pass must be accounted for, either in the budget they pass or in the action that I must take later. These bills must be accounted for, in order to balance the budget, so today I ordered immediate cuts to the state budget.
However, majority leaders refuted Nixon’s comments.
“The reason for the recent withholds by the governor has nothing to do with the Legislature’s actions last night,” Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard said in a statement. Richard, Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe and outgoing Senate Appropriations Chair Kurt Schaefer instead said that Nixon was instead prioritizing Medicaid and other “entitlement programs” over the rest of the state.
“Missouri’s most overridden governor in history combined is using our veto session successes as a smokescreen to blur the real problem – the out-of-control growth in entitlement programs, especially Medicaid,” Richard said. “Year after year, social services continue to see vast increases. The increase last fiscal year alone was at about 30 percent. Medicaid spending consumed every single dollar of GR growth for the year. This spending cannot continue if we want to strengthen our state’s job market with programs that actually grow the economy.”
Some of the programs set to suffer from the belt-tightening include $6 million from the foundation formula used to fund schools, $12 million from the school transportation formula (which helps pay for bussing), $2 million taken from Port Authority Capital improvements, and $20 million from the new Missouri Moves cost share program. A full list can be seen here.
In response to the cuts to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven voiced her disapproval of the cuts.
“We are disappointed in today’s budget cuts that will directly impact schools,” she said in a statement. “Excellent public education is one of our greatest resources and also one of our greatest obligations.”
Over half of the cuts, including cuts to capital improvements at state universities, will affect education.
UPDATE – 4:35 p.m.: Added comments from Nixon and Richard
